Fighting for Love 21 May

What is love? What does it look like? Romans chapter 12 gives us a great place to start in understanding what love is and how it acts in our relationships. Join us in this highly practical message that applies to all of our relationships.

Have you ever “fallen” in love with someone? If so, what do you know now about love that you didn’t know then?

Review Romans 12: 1-2. How is Romans 12:9-21 simply the application of those verses?

Read Romans 12:9-10. Why would Paul command us to hate what is evil and cling to what is good immediately after commanding that our love be sincere? What do those commands have to do with each other? How would practicing verse 10 alter your life?

Compare Mark 12:30-31 with Romans 12:10. How does Paul’s teaching tell us to go above and beyond Christ’s command in Mark to love others as ourselves? What would it look like to love and honor your friends, family members, and/or spouse above yourself?

Read Romans 12:11-13. Pastor Troy applied these verses to the local church (Holy Man Myth-1 Peter 2:9 and the Holy Place Myth-1 Corinthians 6:19-20). On a scale of 1 to 10, how is your small group doing at fulfilling these commands? How could you improve?

Read Romans 12:14-21. How does it make you feel when others rejoice and mourn with you? What does it look like to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn? How do past experiences help in each of those circumstances?

Is loving your enemies: a) nice but unrealistic, b) for Jesus and the Apostle Paul types only, or c) a result of following Christ? How is Christ helping you to love and forgive others?

How does understanding and trusting the sovereignty of God help us to forgive and even love those who have offended us?

How do we implement Troy’s 3 general ideas of what love is fighting for?